


Our Love Will Keep You Warm

by RushingHeadlong



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Other, Reader's gender is not specified
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28549422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RushingHeadlong/pseuds/RushingHeadlong
Summary: On the day of a Queen music video shoot, you find a few ways to take care of Brian and show him just how much you love him.
Relationships: Brian May/You
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Our Love Will Keep You Warm

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a WIP since September 2019, and I finally decided to buckle down and finish writing it. I did my best to piece everything together smoothly, but if parts of it seem a little disjointed it’s because of that large break in writing this.
> 
> In case it's not clear in the fic, this is set on the day that Queen filmed the Spread Your Wings and We Will Rock You music videos.

Despite your best efforts, you have never been an early riser. It’s one of the traits you share with Brian; both of you love lazy mornings spent in bed, curled up around each other and dozing for as long as possible. It’s not often these days that Brian is able to sleep in late, though, and you cherish those too-infrequent days where you both have nowhere to be and no reason to get out of bed. 

Unfortunately it’s barely dawn when Brian’s alarm goes off on this particular morning. You groan at the shrill noise, and even though you want to roll over and fall back asleep you force your eyes open, blinking blearily up at the ceiling as Brian silences the alarm and sits up in bed. 

“Good morning,” he says softly, leaning over to kiss you gently. “Sorry for waking you up.”

You smile sleepily at him, and reach up to cradle Brian’s face. Even in the dim light of early morning he looks like an angel, his messy curls framing his head like a dark halo. “‘s fine,” you mumble. “Love you.”

Brian lets out a small huff of laughter and turns his face to press a kiss against your palm. “Love you too,” he says. “Go back to sleep, it’s still early.”

You hum, noncommittal, and Brian kisses you one more time before getting out of bed. You wait until you hear Brian enter the bathroom and the door closes behind him, before forcing yourself upright with a heavy sigh. You have a surprise planned for Brian before he leaves to film a music video with Queen and although you wish it was a surprise that could be carried out from the comfort of your bed it isn’t, and you know you need to actually get moving.

Still, when you swing your legs over the side of the bed you immediately regret your decision to get out from under the warm blankets. London is in the middle of a cold snap, with today forecasted to be the worst of it, and that prediction unfortunately seems to be holding true. You’re quick to throw on your slippers and you also grab Brian’s dressing gown from where it’s hanging on the back of the door. It’s too big on you and drags on the ground when you wear it, but it’s soft and warm and smells like Brian, and you bury your face into the collar as you make your way down to the kitchen. 

Making tea is a task that you can complete on autopilot, but the same cannot be said for cooking. You start by just opening the fridge and hoping that if you stare at its contents for long enough you’ll be able to remember what your plans for breakfast were going to be. You’re too tired to remember if Brian is eating meat this month or not, so you decide to skip the sausages. Just toast, then, with tomatoes and mushrooms, and if Brian wants eggs as well you can cook some while he’s eating everything else so they don’t go cold. 

Armed with a plan, you pull out your ingredients and start heating up a pan. You’re pretty sure that you doze off once or twice while you’re standing at the stove, and once the water is ready you quickly pour the first cup of tea for yourself because you desperately need it to wake up. Then you make tea for Brian, plus enough to fill a thermos for him to take with, and start heating the kettle again again while you start on the toast, because you already know that one cup just isn’t going to cut it today.

Brian finally makes it into the kitchen while you’re staring at the toaster, trying to will it into working a little faster. “Hey,” he murmurs, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind and resting his head on your shoulder. “What’re you doing up? You should’ve gone back to sleep.”

“I wanted to take care of you,” you tell him. Despite the tea you’re still not entirely awake and the words come out slightly mumbled.

Brian chuckles at your sleepy response, and kisses the side of your neck. “Take care of me, hm?”

“Yeah,” you say around a yawn. “Need to make sure you’re all prepared for today, so you don’t freeze to death.”

“I’m sure I won’t freeze to death,” Brian says. You can hear the amusement in his voice, warm like honey, and it makes you smile. “They can’t film a music video if we lose fingers to frostbite.”

“Still. Not taking a chance,” you say. You motion towards the cup and plate on the counter and say, “So, breakfast. And there’s a thermos to take with you.”

“You’re amazing,” Brian says. “Are you going to eat something too, or just inhale tea until you wake up?”

You laugh a little at that. “I’ll eat. Just waiting on my-” As if on cue the toaster pops up and you motion vaguely towards it, as Brian grabs a plate and sets it down next to you. “Thanks.”

“Of course.” Brian grabs his own plate and cup of coffee and takes a seat at your small kitchen table, but he doesn’t start eating until you’re sitting down as well. His feet knock against yours under the table and you hook your ankle around his, and smile at him a little sleepily as you sip at your tea and try to wake up a little bit more. 

It’s quiet, just the sounds of the two of you eating and the faint noises from the street drifting in from outside, and you can almost understand why some people enjoy the early hours of the morning when the world is still asleep around them… but it’s still not quite for you, and you’re still yawning even as you finish breakfast and Brian starts getting ready to leave. 

“You should go back to bed,” Brian tells you as he finishes putting on his shoes and grabs his coat. “No sense in both of us being exhausted later.”

“Unfortunately you’re not the only one with things to get done today,” you say. “But if I have time, I’ll probably nap a little this afternoon.”

“Wish I could nap with you,” Brian says, a little glumly, as he double-checks that he has everything he’ll need today. 

“Well, you can look forward to coming home and letting me warm you up at the end of the day instead,” you tell him. 

Brian laughs a little at that and pulls you in for a gentle kiss. “I’ll be counting down the hours until I get back home.”

“I’m sure you will,” you say with a small laugh of your own - and then you suddenly remember that you have one more surprise for him this morning and you wiggle out of his arms, ignoring his pout as you cross back over to the kitchen counter and grab the package that you had set out earlier. “I almost forgot this! Here, open it.”

“What is it? A gift?” Brian asks as he takes it from you. It’s a soft bundle, wrapped in a simple brown paper, and Brian turns it over in his hands as if he can somehow figure out what’s inside without needing to open it at all. “It’s not Christmas, and it’s not my birthday…”

“Do I need a reason to give you nice things?”

“Well, I suppose not, no.” Brian finally starts to open the package and as he pulls the paper away a scarf tumbles out, the ends of it just brushing against the floor before Brian scoops them back up. “ _Oh_ …”

The scarf is long, over six feet in length, the mottled reds-and-browns creating subtle stripes across the rows. “It’s so _soft_ ,” Brian says as he runs his fingers over it. “Where did you get it?”

“I made it,” you say, and Brian looks up at you in surprise. “Been working on it for awhile, actually. I wanted to have it done by Christmas but it took me a bit longer to finish than I expected.”

“I didn’t even know you could knit,” Brian admits. He smiles at you and asks, teasing, “What other secret talents have you been hiding, hm?”

“Nothing else, I can promise you that,” you tell him. “And this is hardly a _talent_ , it’s all lumpy and I don’t know if it’s long enough and-”

“And it’s perfect,” Brian cuts in. “Lumps and all, I love it.”

“Do you really?”

“Of course I do,” Brian assures you. “You spent all this time and effort making it for me, how could I not love it?” He shakes it out and asks, “Help me put it on?”

So you do, helping Brian wrap it around his neck and adjusting it so both ends are even. You’re relieved to see that it is long enough, even on Brian’s tall frame, and you smile up at him, pleased and proud that your gift appears to be a success. “There. What do you think of that?”

“I love it,” Brian says sincerely. “Thank you. Honestly, I never want to take it off.”

You laugh and can’t help but point out, “I doubt they’ll let you wear a handmade scarf in a Queen music video!”

“They can certainly _try_ to make me take it off but honestly, we’re filming this in Roger’s back garden. There’s already not much of a rock ‘n’ roll look to this production,” Brian says, rolling his eyes. “And with how cold it’s going to be, I think we’ll all be clinging to whatever bits of warmth we can find.”

“Well if the scarf helps keep you from freezing today, it’ll be well worth the effort it took to make it,” you tell Brian. “And you have the thermos too, and I’m sure everyone will want to get this over with as quickly as possible…”

“Oh, I’m sure they will. I still wish we didn’t have to do this at all, but…” He sighs and shrugs in a, _What can you do about it?_ sort of way. “Hopefully I’ll be home soon enough.”

You lean up to kiss him again. “And I’ll be here waiting for you when you do.”

It’s still early enough that you drag your feet on properly starting your day even once Brian leaves. You putter around the house for a while, washing the dishes from breakfast and making the bed and tidying up some of Brian’s songwriting notes spread across the desk tucked into the corner of the living room, before you finally bring yourself to get dressed and leave the house to run errands. 

It certainly is cold outside today, nearly freezing, and even though you’re bundled up with gloves and a hat and a scarf of your own the wind still seems to cut through your layers and leaves you shivering as you hurry down the street. By the time you reach the first shop of the day your nose and cheeks almost hurt from the cold and you spare a thought for Brian, and the rest of Queen, who you know are going to be outside in this weather for almost the entire day. 

You had been joking earlier when you told Brian that you needed to be sure he wouldn’t freeze to death today… but now you really are hoping that they all make it through the filming without becoming rockstar ice lollies. 

The moment you get back home you crank up the heat, make yourself a cup of tea, and drag your warmest blanket into the living room so you can curl up underneath it on the couch. You don’t usually think of your house as being particularly drafty but right now it certainly feels like every tiny crack and crevice is enough to let the icy chill inside. 

You shiver and burrow deeper underneath your blanket and can’t help but think that animals who hibernate all winter seem to have the right idea of things. Who really wants to be awake on a day like this, anyway?

Clearly you don’t, because you end up falling asleep there on the couch and you only wake up again when you hear the unmistakable noise of someone fumbling with a key in the lock. 

You blink blearily and rub at your eyes as you sit up. It’s late enough that the sun has nearly completely set, and it takes you a moment to figure out that that must be Brian trying to unlock the front door. It isn’t until you hear him stumble inside and bounce off the wall by the door that you remember that Brian has been outside in this weather _all day_.

The poor dear must be frozen to the bone, and you quickly gather up your blanket and pad out into the front hallway. Brian is slumped against the wall, shivering and looking absolutely exhausted, but when you call out his name his eyes light up as he looks at you and the smile he gives you may be faint, but it’s still absolutely sincere. 

“Hi, Y/N. How was your day?” he asks. 

“Never mind about my day. You look like yours was _terrible_ ,” you say as you walk over to help him out of his coat.

“Ended up filming two videos today, instead of just the one,” Brian mumbles. He tries to help you unwrap the scarf from around his neck but his hands are fumbling and uncoordinated, and you eventually end up just batting them away and doing it yourself. 

“Thanks,” he sighs, and you can smell alcohol on his breath - but you can’t really fault him for drinking when he’s with the band, especially not on a day like today. 

You wrap the blanket around his shoulders and lean up to kiss him chastely, and you have to suppress a shiver of your own when you feel how cold his lips are underneath yours. “Do you want a cuppa?” you ask. 

Brian shakes his head. “I’ve drank enough tea today to drown myself in it.”

You laugh and say, “Alright, fair enough. But you have to warm up a bit, so come on…”

You lead him into the living room where he sinks onto the couch with another tired sigh and when you sit down next to him he immediately curls up against your side, pressing as close to you as possible. You drag another blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around you both, and you take one of his hands in your own to start gently rubbing some warmth back into it. 

He hisses as he starts to regain feeling in his fingers and you kiss the top of his head in apologize, “Sorry, love, but you’ll feel better once they’re warmed up.”

“Still hate it,” Brian grumbles. “And I hate Freddie and Roger. They got to wear _gloves_.”

You can’t help but smile at the petulant whine in Brian’s voice. He’s clearly exhausted, and more than a bit tipsy, and you feel a little bad for thinking that he’s kind of adorable like this. “Well, that’s the advantage of not playing a guitar, I suppose.”

Brian huffs, his breath warm against your skin - unlike his nose, which is still ice-cold when he buries it against your neck. You just barely manage to stop yourself from flinching, and you switch to rubbing his other hand before Brian decides to stick that icicle against you as well. 

“I couldn’t even play _my_ guitar,” he continues. “Had to use the replica because of the snow.”

“Better than damaging your Old Lady,” you point out, even though you know that Brian already knows that. “Anything good about today, or was it all miserable?”

“Fred had whiskey, which he was kind enough to share with us to help us get through filming,” Brian answers. “‘course, Rog had to point out that it wouldn’t actually stop us from getting frostbite, but he had _gloves_ and it made us feel warm so we kept drinking anyway.”

You laugh a little at Brian’s explanation of his day. It’ll be interesting to see if Brian continues to hold this grudge about the gloves in the days to come. “Yeah, I figured alcohol was involved in some part of your day.” You kiss his hand, which is now at least a little bit warmer, and add, “At least you didn’t _actually_ get frostbite. I’d say that’s another good thing about your day.”

“And I had your scarf.” Brian’s voice is getting softer, his words slurring together as the early morning and long hours in the cold start to catch up to him. “That was a good thing.”

“Ah, yes, the scarf,” you say with a smile. “Did they let you keep it on for the videos, then?”

“Yeah. Didn’t give ‘em much of a choice about it,” Brian mumbles. “‘s very soft. And warm.”

“Well, that was kind of the point,” you say. “C’mon, Bri. Let’s get you to bed, before you pass out on top of me here.”

Brian groans in protest, clearly displeased at the idea of having to move now that he’s gotten comfortable against you. “Only if you come to bed with me.”

“I’ll come to bed now if you _stay_ in bed with me tomorrow morning,” you offer. 

“Deal,” Brian says, almost immediately. He lifts his head to smile at you, and despite the exhaustion lining his face it’s still clear that he’s pleased by this arrangement. “I don’t have anywhere else to be tomorrow, so I’m all yours.”

You kiss Brian’s forehead, smiling at the way that he presses up against the contact. “I definitely like the sound of that.”


End file.
